Across Staten Island, Regretting the Decision to Stay

Last year’s Hurricane Irene was in some ways a test run for superstorm Sandy. But the relatively mild impact taught many residents of Staten Island’s beachfront communities the wrong lesson: you don’t need to evacuate.

As families pick up their pieces and assess their damaged homes, many now say they regret the decision to stay in their flooding neighborhoods in the desperate hours after landfall last Monday night.

Jon Brown, a resident of Midland Beach, was alone in his house on Freeborn Street about half a mile from the beach the night Sandy came ashore. His wife was at work in a hospital, and he had sent his eight-year-old daughter to higher ground at his mother’s home on the island ahead of the storm. The 44-year-old hardware store employee said he expected five feet of water.

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